Two media extender announcements in one week! Can it get any better than that? ;) Archos joins DivX in by releasing details on TV Plus. Engadget had some hands on time with the prototype and reports Archos will offer DVR functionality including an IR blaster to control that cable box, in addition to typical media extender features. Given their previous DVR dabbling (via portables), I wonder if Archos will provide any guide data. The remote is particularly interesting — with it’s jog dial and qwerty keyboard, it kinda reminds me of a screenless old school Blackberry or Moto pager. TV Plus is scheduled for a fall launch at a cost of $200 – $350 depending on hard drive size. Of course, there’s really no telling how large (or small) the market is for media extenders – how many boxes can it support?
Archos also announced several new portable media players this week but, like PDAs, this is a dying market segment for most companies. Heck, Microsoft even killed their PMC OS. As small devices gain power and we tire of carrying these multiple gadgets, we’ll see enhanced multimedia functionality built into our smartphones which will receive more mainstream attention. Oh yeah, something called the iPhone is about to drop.
UPDATE: Michael Gartenberg confirms these devices will offer an EPG. Hm, interesting…